Mitt
Romney and former US Ambassador John Bolton share a laugh with a
Marine veteran.REUTERS/Jason
Reed

President-elect Donald Trump's list of candidates for secretary
of state keeps growing as he faces mounting pressure to name
someone amid diplomatic missteps with foreign nations.

Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer
told reporters last week that Trump was down to four
candidates for the secretary of state job, but that seems to have
changed.

In addition to the candidates thought to be in the running last
week — former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker, former CIA Director
David Petraeus, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani —
five new names have surfaced as possible candidates.

The list now includes former United Nations ambassador John
Bolton, former US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Exxon Mobile
CEO Rex Tillerson, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, and retired
Navy Adm. James Stavridis, according to
The New York Times and
Politico.

Trump isn't expected to nominate anyone for several more days.

But he's facing mounting pressure to choose someone sooner rather
than later. Trump set off a firestorm last week when he
spoke to the president of Taiwan by phone. The call was the
first time a US president had directly spoken with Taiwan's
leadership in more than 30 years, and it could strain US
relations with China. The US suspended formal diplomatic
relations with Taiwan in 1979.

Bolton met with Trump last week and Tillerson is scheduled to
meet with Trump on Tuesday, according to the Times.

Bolton was a supporter of the Iraq War, which Trump said he
opposed, and has a reputation as a neoconservative. He also
favors warming ties with Taiwan as a way to check China's power.

Stavridis is currently the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University. He was also at one point during
the general election named as a potential running mate to
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

A spokeswoman for the Fletcher School told Business Insider in a
statement that there has "been no discussion" of a specific
position for Stavridis in Trump's cabinet.

"At the request of the Trump transition team, Admiral Stavridis
will meet with President-elect Trump on Thursday of this
week in New York," the statement said. "There has
been no discussion of a position in the Trump
administration."

Donald Trump and Mitt Romney.Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Romney, who ran for president himself as the Republican candidate
in 2012, was thought to be a frontrunner for secretary of state,
but Trump's former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway
has cast doubt on whether Trump would actually pick him.
Romney was one of Trump's most vocal critics during the
primaries.

Giuliani also seems to have fallen out of favor with the Trump
team.

Corker, a Tennessee Republican, seemed to indicate that he
would be loyal to Trump if chosen as his secretary of state.

"The secretary of state's role is so important to a president,"
Corker told reporters after he met with the president-elect. "He
needs to choose someone that he's very comfortable with and he
knows that there's going to be no daylight between him and them.
He needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who
speaks fully for the president."

Petraeus emerged as a favorite amid infighting about Romney and
Giuliani, but the retired four-star general doesn't exactly have
a blemish-free résumé.

He resigned his post as CIA director in 2012 after his
affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, was made public. And
last year, he
pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling
classified information.

Still, after Trump met with Petraeus, he said on Twitter that he was "very
impressed."